The debate will be held in Houston on Sept. 12, and a second night may be added if more candidates qualify

Published Aug 21, 2019 at 7:15 PM

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In this July 31, 2019, file photo, Democratic presidential hopefuls, from left to right, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Juliån Castro, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, former Vice President Joe Biden, California Sen. Kamala Harris, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii', Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wave from the stage ahead of the second round of the second Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season hosted by CNN at the Fox Theatre in Detroit.

The third Democratic presidential debate will give candidates more time to answer questions, event host ABC announced Wednesday.

The debate, which will be held at Houston's Texas Southern University on Sept. 12, will give candidates one minute and 15 seconds for direct responses to questions and 45 seconds for rebuttals, the network said.

That's up from the one-minute responses and 30-second rebuttal times in the first two debates, which were hosted by NBC and CNN respectively, NBC News reports.

To qualify for the debate, candidates need to have at least four polls showing them at 2% support or greater and at least 130,00 unique donors.